Minecraft The Haunted Wiki:Creating a fanon
Starting a fanon of your own may seem a bit tricky sometimes, so here is a guide with some useful tricks and advice for new fanon authors. Contentshide Creating a fanon Pre-production Main Page Chapters Title Content Publish Images Continuity Making a fanon Creating a fanon Edit Pre-production Edit Before starting a fanon, it is useful to know wiki mark-up, the code that wikia uses. If you're a new user, you probably use RTE (Rich Text Editor), which still has a lot of glitches.Whenever you'll edit a page from then on, you'll do so in "source mode," which enables you to view the coding on a page directly, thus minimizing the chance of any glitches to occur and mess up your page's layout. Another indispensable step before actually starting to write is to make yourself familiar with the fanon policies we have on . By knowing and following the rules, you exclude the chance that your story pages will ever be moved to your userspace. A useful tip before actually publishing your fanon on the fanon portal is to plan a bit of it out beforehand. This doesn't mean that you should've worked out every detail on paper before putting it on the wiki, but having a list of the major characters and/or locations the story will be in, and some major points in the fanon's plot, a general idea of what the story will be about is always useful to prevent future writer's blocks. A trick to see how a page would turn out without officially posting it, is to create a sandbox. To do this, you simply go to your userpage, and add the name of your sandbox behind the url given there. Next, follow the link to that page. It will say "This page needs content. You can help by adding a sentence or a photo! Add to this page!" You then click the button "Create" which is located on the same place the edit button normally is, and start adding content to the page. After you're done, just click "Publish" and you have created a sandbox. Main Page Edit To start off your new fanfiction, it's best to create a main page, which will act as the hub of the fanon by containing links to chapters and characters, providing information on the story, and show news and updates. Type in the name of your fanon story and chose whether you want to create a page with the "standard" layout or a "blank page." Either way is fine to create a page, but the blank page is easier to work with Commonly used heading are: #:* Plot - Under this heading you write in the plot, let the reader know what your story is about, but make sure you don't give away any big spoilers or ruin the surprise fans like in chapters. Characters - Here you put in the characters, and maybe a short description. This could include their gender, weapon, political position, and/or profession. As your story grows bigger, you can create character pages, to which you can link to from the characters list you have on your main page. To link to your character's page, add . Note that you don't have to include that Fanon: prefix when using this type of linking. Another way of linking is by using the regular parenthesis. When using this method, the prefix Fanon: needs to be included in the link. Chapters - You can also make a list of all published chapters, with a link to the actual chapter, and the unpublished ones. Chapters Edit Chapters are going to be the most important part of your fanon. After all, they actually tell the story. It is advised to first create several chapter pages before starting to create pages for characters, battles, and locations. Create a new page, add the prefix Fanon:then your chapter name, and you can get to work. Title Edit You'll notice that some authors prefer to specifically state the chapter number and/or their fanon's title between parenthesis in their title (E.g. "Chapter 1: Two Separate Lives (When Air Nomads Walked the Earth)"). There is no set format for this and it is left to the authors preference. Note that if you use this format, it is easier for passersby to immediately notice the chapter number and the fanon series it is a part of. Content Edit There is no set length requirement for a chapter page, but make sure that there is sufficient content so the reader has actually something to read. Try to vary your wording usage, in order to bring color to your writing and avoid being repetitive, and use proper grammar, not many readers will be interested in sitting out a chapter that is packed with spelling and/or grammar mistakes. If you know that this isn't your strongest side, consider asking another person to be your editor. Things to note: Make sure to always capitalize the first letter of a name and the first letter of a new sentence. Separate your sentences by using appropriate punctuation. Divide your text in paragraphs. It is tiresome to read a whole wall of text, so make sure to make it lighter by dividing it up regularly. When depicting a conversation between people, make sure to start a new line whenever a new person takes the word. Note the you'll either have to leave a white line between two lines or use the E.g. the preferred and most neat way to separate sentences is by leaving a white line between lines: "Might I see your swords?" He flushes. "My swords?" Reaching back, he curls his hand about the hilts but not move extend them, trying to meet her gaze; she stares at him coolly, though her mind is a jumble of half-whispered memories. "It's against the rules for someone to see one's swords without defeating them in honorable combat - " "Oh, the rules." She waves a hand nonchalantly. "I don't believe in them except when it suits me, and at the moment, it doesn't suit me at all." "Might I see your swords?" He flushes. "My swords?" Reaching back, he curls his hand about the hilts but not move extend them, trying to meet her gaze; she stares at him coolly, though her mind is a jumble of half-whispered memories. "It's against the rules for someone to see one's swords without defeating them in honorable combat - " "Oh, the rules." She waves a hand nonchalantly. "I don't believe in them except when it suits me, and at the moment, it doesn't suit me at all." Refrain from using abbreviations, but rather write everything in full. E.g. Write "See you later," not "c u l8r." Edit Publish Edit You can click the "Preview" button to overview the layout of your page one last time and if you are completely satisfied, you can publish the page by clicking the "Publish" button. In order to maintain a clean layout, it is advised that all the chapters after your first chapter following the same format you've chosen on that one. This doesn't not mean, however, that you can't alter the infobox's color on each chapter. #:* There is no set limit on the usage of images on a fanon article, but add images in good faith. You don't want to overload readers with images, as they divert attention away from what's truly important: the story itself. Make sure that when you add images to to a page, that page will still be "writing with images" and not "images with some writing." If the latter is the case, chances are that an administrator will come by and delete some of the excess images. The preferred image sizes are: 300px for images used in the Template:Tl on the main page. 250px for images used in infoboxes other than the Template:Tl. 200px for images used on the page itself. Continuity Edit Making a fanon Edit You should know, it's not easy to make a fanon. You have to write out chapters, and maybe character pages, battles, events, etc. You have to organize it, and hope that people like it, and keep reading it. It is a lot of work, so think it through before you begin. Please don't just make one and leave it to die.